Antonio Conte has hailed Tottenham’s character in earning a vital 4-0 win over Aston Villa in the Premier League.
Spurs consolidated fourth-place in the table and capitalised on Arsenal’s earlier defeat to Brighton after an intense Saturday evening affair at Villa Park.
Tottenham took the lead after just three minutes when Heung-min Son lashed in a low effort off the post after Harry Kane’s first attempt was blocked away.
But Spurs were required to do plenty of defending when Steven Gerrard’s men pushed forward, with captain Hugo Lloris forced into pulling off a number of top saves to preserve the lead.
Antonio Conte’s side regrouped and added an important second early into the second half, though, after Dejan Kulusevski fired in a low shot after Kane’s excellent flick-on, before Son added another two to complete his hat-trick.
And in claiming an important three points in the race for a Champions League spot, Conte praised the way his team maintained composure to keep a slender lead during Villa’s first half onslaught.
Reflecting on Lloris’ performance and Tottenham’s character, he said (via Football.London): “Very very important.
“A strong team, a top team needed to have great character, great personality to be strong mentally because during the game you know you can have a period that you have to suffer because your opponent is pushing you a lot.
“Today the first half was difficult but we knew this because when you play against Aston Villa away in this stadium I don’t think there is one team that comes here and wins easy.
“The composure and desire to stay strong and then in the second half I think we won the game in an important way. For sure we have to be better when there is type of pressure.
“In the second half we were much better because the intensity of Aston Villa has dropped. But a great win for us and it wasn’t easy, but a great win especially when you play a game after the games of your rivals who lost, Wolves, Manchester United and Arsenal and West Ham still have to play.
“You have to show in this moment that you start to feel the blood of your opponent. It is important not to fail.”
Spurs Web Opinion
This is a big win for Spurs considering they had their backs against the wall for a whole half and conceding then could be altered the game’s dynamic.
But they held firm and killed the game off pretty quickly in the second half to devastating effect, which should keep the momentum going heading into next week.